Details

Date

1891

Author

Koch

Contribution

Publlished hitherto secret compositon of tuberculin.

Reference

Brock

Notes

Reports in the previous year suggested a prophylactic and curative role for the secret substance he later called tuberculin. Following much controvery and criticism, Koch now revealed that it was glycerin extract of tubercle bacilli . Glycerin had been used in the culture medium, and remained after removal of bacterial cells and water. The value of tubercullin in the immunodiagnosis of tuberculosis (and lack of value in therapy) soon became evident.
Brock and others believed that Koch had no interest in making money from the discovery of tuberculin, but documents not available to early biographers have shown that he was indeed eager to profit financially from the discovery; see James Strick's Foreword to the 1999 edition of Brock's book "Robert Koch."